4.7 Into the Dread Citadel
I apologize for mixing up the races names this session. Here's what they originally were, and will be used here for consistency: * Hostana - Friendly lion people (the race that Dal's new body is of) * Kailatos - Voidspawn * Vool - 2nd most powerful race in this world. 5 feet tall, deep purple skin, slick almost featureless faces. Hooded sorcerer people led by 4 Dreadlords (ancient lich) Notes: * The heroes sent Piper and Seamus home via the Archivist, but the Mother "consulted the bones" and had a prophecy that the odds of success would be greatly reduced if Evie and Ulag did not accompany them. * Baygrith made ten acidic/incendiary bombs to deploy on the Voidspawn Hatcheries * Kar'hanza added some chaos to the bombs, and build a receiver that would amplify magical range - allowing a Voidspawn to be controlled by the Rod over great distances, and Sal's invisibility on the bombs to extend as well. * Over the night, Evie caught up with Cara, the Archbishop had a crisis of faith with Caireann before going dancing in the streets, and Timmeron consulted the growing voices in his head with Perlapae (before also trying to go dance) * They woke hours before dawn, heading out into the frozen tundra of the Voidspawn night. Travize provided heat while they hiked up the mountain to a vantage point * Of the four Hostana scouts that accompanied them, three went off to feed their trickery to the Vool, prompting them to attack the Voidspawn base. One accompanied their party to the base. * Evie and Ulag captured a Hunter-class Voidspawn (of some intelligence) that could understand the command to put the objects in hatcheries. Baygrith attached 8 of his 10 bombs, Kar'hanza attached her device, Sal cast his illusion, and it was sent off. Moments later, the ground pulsed upwards in the shockwave, buildings collapsed, and chaos ensued. This triggered the Vool to launch their attack, using siege weapons to fling unholy magic upon their base. * The two groups, both successful, regrouped on the ledge and made for the Vool Citadel. The Citadel is positioned on a huge lake of some foul liquid, fed by a river frozen over at night. Around it is positioned a town made of floating barges and platforms, tied together and connected by planks. * The scouts brought the party as close as they could before backing off. The team decided to use stealth, covering themselves in an illusion and making their way through the town. They chose the most direct, though most crowded, path towards the Citadel - through a grand bazaar of connected merchant boats. * To get through the crowds, Baygrith used his Etheric Emitter Torch to create the sounds of Voidspawn in the market. It's malfunctioning caused it to be maximized in volume, deafening citizens and alerting the whole village. Some fled away, but many others came to fight the threat. * The party stayed under cover of illusion, using magic to push people out of the way amidst the chaos. Timmeron, gaining madness and frustration, threw people with significant force. * Timmeron counterspelled a blast that may have hit them, but just before they left the bazaar a rogue blast knocked them off their feet and out of cover. A brief fight ensued, while Grukk and Timmeron ending in the freezing acidic water. As Timmeron's madness grew, he decided to gain some clarity by emitting power he has been gathering. He started a dark ritual over a large swath of area around them. The party defended him as the ritual was put into place. Using 4 of his 9 madness, he killed 30 citizens and turned them into mindless undead drones. The Archbishop (among others) was quite distressed, attacking Timmeron's minions. The group convinced Timmeron to release them, but rather than dying they simply went wild attacking anyone around them. The party started to fight the minions, but decided to take advantage of the distraction with the comfort that this race of powerful warriors could handle the threat. * The party stole a few items from a mostly-empty armory barge, though the Archbishop warned them that the items were filled with evil energy. * They dispatched the guards at the gate (one of their heads was turned into a cat head) and busted open the bars. They attempted to distract the reinforcement guards with a golem, but they were well trained. Instead they used the portal gun to step through the wall behind them. * The Citadel spoke to Timmeron, offering him incredible power. It's temptation was overwhelming, but he knew that he would have limited control over his mind should he accept it. Still, it allowed him to sense Kanil, the mysterious captive with secrets of how to kill Bartos. The Citiadel was made of uncountably many bones of various creatures from this world, each one which alone carried significant unholy power. Eerie blue lights glowed around every corner. It seems the Dreadlords draw power from the Citadel, making them incredibly dangerous. * They entered a massive room with a vast pit, the floor too far to see. Many doors surrounded the room, connected by bridges made ribs of a gigantic ribcage. Before they could cross to the next door, a line of cultists, their faces obscured by hoods and glowing blue light, walked to unknowingly intercept the invisible party. The group backed up, but the cultists seemed to notice them regardless. The party tried to push them off the bridge, but the cultists floated. As they started some form of group-casting a great spell, Timmeron sapped the strength not only from their spell but from the cultists themselves. They died and plummeted to the floor below instantly, but at the cost of massive (15) amounts of madness. Timmeron's consciousness in life ceased to have majority stake over his mind. * The group continued through great hallways of bone as Timmeron was able to communicate through the Citadel with vastly increased ease. He knew exactly where the four Dreadlords were, and the path to Kanil. Kanil is guarded by three of the four, the fourth performing some tasks elsewhere in the Citadel. They also observed the doors all had three levers on the inner-side, which could open and close the door, lock it down in case of emergency, and trigger an alarm respectively. * They reached a sweltering furnace, filled with vats of boiling blood from different races. The blood is used to empower their bone weapons with unholy strength. The group went to sneak through the room but became cornered by a cultist leading ghastly Wraiths, cultists at the forge smithing weapons, and patrols behind them reporting their dead comrades in the ribcage room. They asked Kar'hanza to make a distraction by breaking one of the vats of blood, sending them running to see the cause and fix the damage. They left the room, but the Wraiths seemed to detect them and it's leader tailed the group. * The next room was a huge stairwell, which the descended as the Wraiths followed. The cultist commanded them to Scream, and Sal got out a Control Sound just in time to protect them from the horrid sound that followed. Amplified by the natural acoustics of the room, they were still in danger and had to stop the Wraiths from continuing. Travize flicked some brandy from his vial at the Wraiths, and they were dragged into captivity- flinging Travize down the stairs and into view. The rest of the group quickly dispatched the remaining cultist. Attempts to question Travize were glanced off. * Timmeron detected the fourth Dreadlord about to cross through the next room (a ritual sacrifice chamber) they would pass. They stopped before entering, but as the Dreadlord passed through it seemed to detect Timmeron through the wall. They seemed to lock eyes through the Citadel's power, before the Dreadlord broke off and floated down the hall with a purpose. Timmeron went to pursue, but was stopped by the group. He took the energy from a lingering sacrifice in the room without second thought. * The final room came into sight-another massive pit with three great platforms. On the sides were huge skeletal hands, with "muscle" and sinew simulated through magics. At the end was an enormous skull of some foreign creature, standing stories tall. It had a broad jaw, multiple rows of teeth, a nose socket and two long oddly-shaped eye sockets. In each socket was chained prisoners, with Kanil being interrogated by three Dreadlords in the left eye. * The Archbishop's divine wisdom allowed him to discern that Kanil is hardly defenseless, and is a powerful cleric of Bartos (known presumably by a different name here). Travize communed with Kanil telepathically, learning he was not so defenseless, but was waiting for a key opportunity to make a break for it. He needed a distraction. The group prepared to give him one.... Category:Quests